I arrived at St. Mark’s and began serving as Senior Pastor on February 1st 2010.  As the new guy on the block I might have felt a little pretentious discussing the future of our congregation, but the leaders here have done a great job discerning the interests of our members and assessing our physical needs as we reach out to our community and world to fulfill our mandate of making disciples of Jesus.

In the March 9th 2009 newsletter the church council introduced a discernment process which began with a survey led by small group members.  The survey contained five questions designed to help identify important mission and ministry areas of the church and steps that need to be taken for our facility to accommodate those ministries and programs.  The survey also identified the willingness of participants to fund any potential facility additions.

The questions are listed below:

1.Talk about one or two existing programs or ministries at St. Mark’s that you enjoy or that are particularly meaningful to you.

2. The mission of St. Marks is, “Making Disciples for Jesus Christ.” With this in mind, as we look into the future, in what ways do you envision God calling our church to be in ministry?

3.What are some biblical or theological images of where we are or where we are going as a church?

4.In light of our conversation, what do you think God is saying to us in reference to our building needs?

5. Are you willing to make a commitment of resources to grow the ministries of St. Mark’s?

When the results of the survey were interpreted the church council then recommended to begin a building program and asked the nominating committee to be prepared to nominate a building committee to the Charge Conference which was held in the fall of 2009.  A capital fund campaign committee was also named at the fall charge conference.

Currently we are working on a design for a new sanctuary that will enable us to use our present worship space for multiple functions and more effectively reach our community as the body of Christ and enable our members to grow in the likeness of Christ.  It is an exciting time to be at St. Marks and as we continue to discern God’s will for us we anticipate even more exciting ministry and worship in the days and years ahead.

Craig Goff
Senior Pastor